Last-minute change to amendments would postpone rise in cigarette tax

A last-minute change on Monday by Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee to a package of economy amendments would postpone an earlier planned rise in the excise tax on cigarettes.

The committee removed the increase from the package before the final vote, arguing that conditions had to be established for the same taxation of products that are equally harmful to health.

Under the original amendment, the excise tax on cigarettes was to increase in three steps – this year, at the beginning of next year and in the middle of next year – from HUF 18,080 at present to HUF 19,400 per thousand cigarettes from July 1, 2012.

Related articles

While European Union annual inflation came to 1.4% in July, down from 1.6% in June, the second highest annual inflation rate at national level was registered in Hungary, at 3.3%, according to figures published by Eurostat, the EUʼs official statistical office.

Hungaryʼs annualized consumer price index (CPI) stood at 3.3% in July, slowing from 3.4% in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Thursday. Headline inflation was lifted by significant increases in the prices of alcohol and tobacco products, as well as food.

An MP of the governing Fidesz party has submitted a motion to Parliament that would allow local councils to ban sales of spirits in tobacco shops between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., state news wire MTI reports.

Consumer price levels in Hungary were significantly lower than the EU average in 2018, with the country posting the second lowest prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and third lowest prices in the furniture and carpets, restaurants and hotels, and clothes and footwear categories.

A bill submitted to Parliament on Thursday by an MP of governing Fidesz would limit sales of electronic cigarettes and e-cigarette cartridges to the state-run network of tobacco shops, Hungarian news agency MTI reports.

In its quarterly Inflation Report released last Thursday, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) attributes higher-than-expected core inflation in recent months to repricing early in the year, higher processed food prices, and a faster pass-through of the excise tax hike on tobacco products.

Listed IT firm 4iG revealed Monday it has won a HUF 4 billion contract in a consortium with Suaviter Zrt., via a tender called by ND Nemzeti Dohánykereskedelmi Nonprofit Zrt., coordinator of the state monopoly on retail tobacco sales, to establish a system of unique identifiers (UIDs) for tobacco products.

German-owned Hauni Hungaria, which makes machinery for the tobacco industry, will invest HUF 5.7 billion at its base in Pécs (SW Hungary), company and government officials announced last Friday, according to state news agency MTI.

The local unit of Germany’s Continental Tobacco inaugurated a HUF 1.1 billion expansion at its base in Sátoraljaújhely (257 km northeast of Budapest), with a HUF 544 million grant provided by the state, official government news portal kormany.hu reported.